99% Chance

Joel Klein declared only a handful of snow days in his 8 1/2-year reign as New York City schools chancellor. Yesterday, he said one of them was to make good on a promise he made to Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg’s son, Jack. . . . “I understand you’re running the schools in New York City,” Klein said the boy told him, then added, “I want to know one thing. Do you declare snow days? . . . Will you declare a snow day on my birthday?”. . . Although the boy was in a private school, Klein told us that even at his tender age, “he knew that a snow day for the public schools meant a snow day for the private schools” as well. . . . But it would be Jack’s mother who called in the favor. On a day when it was “really snowing bad,” Klein said Caroline phoned him and said, “It’s not [Jack’s] birthday, but he’s got a paper due tomorrow. A snow day would be awfully rich right now.” He added that one of the “snow days I declared was that.”

—The News.

New York City Public Schools

2011-2012 CALENDAR OF CLASSES AND EVENTS

(Parents and caregivers, please note that school starts one week early this year, to allow for highly likely weather-related closures.)

August 25th—Thursday. All staff report. Preparation of classrooms, professional development. Distribution of “Severe Weather Readiness” packets.

September 1st—Thursday. School opens for all students not at Brearley, Buckley, Chapin, Collegiate, Dalton, Fieldston, Hewitt, Packer, Nightingale, Spence, Trinity, etc. (For full list, see appendix.)

September 5th—Monday. Labor Day. Schools closed. Last day of Hampton Jitney summer schedule.

September 8th—Thursday. School opens for all students at Brearley, Buckley, Chapin, Collegiate, Dalton, Fieldston, Hewitt, Packer, Nightingale, Spence, Trinity, etc., if quite convenient.

January 27th—Friday. Wow, what a snowstorm might happen at this time of year! Better not to have school. (Joint Chapin-Marymount-Spence musicale on the slopes in Stowe, Vermont: “A Snow Day Would Be Awfully Rich Right Now!”)

February 20th-24th—Monday through Friday. Midwinter recess. Schools closed, but not necessarily.

March 23rd—Friday. It sometimes snows this late, right? So—NO SCHOOL! (Riverdale Country varsity polo team to sectionals, Saint-Tropez.)

April 6th-13th—Friday through Friday. Easter, Passover. Schools closed, but available for whatever. Make offer.

May 28th—Monday. Memorial Day. First day of Hampton Jitney summer schedule.

June 7th—Thursday. Chancellor’s Conference Day for staff development relating to Regents Examinations and making important contacts (see presentation of former chancellor, above). Schools closed, but don’t quote us.

June 20th—Wednesday. Schools closed as a result of excessively unthreatening weather, because that’s just when the worst storms hit—when you don’t expect them. (Dalton golf team makeup final exam on 6/21 in Human Studies, which will probably be really hard and they will have to study a lot for.)

June 27th—Wednesday. LAST DAY FOR ALL STUDENTS. 1:30 P.M. dismissal, except for students at Brearley, Buckley, Chapin, Collegiate, Dalton, Fieldston, Hewitt, Packer, Nightingale, Spence, etc., who of course are free to leave whenever they choose.